Afternoons for Wednesday 30 October 2024

1:15 Fingers, a 50-year journey in jewellery

Let's go back to 1974, when five young New Zealand jewellery makers were about to open a collective to promote and sell their work in central Auckland.

From those humble beginnings, Fingers is now the oldest contemporary jewellery gallery in New Zealand and thought to be oldest surviving jewellery co-op in the world.

It is now celebrating its 50-year anniversary - and has become an institution recognised locally and internationally, providing a platform for many artist's careers.

Jesse talks to Ruth Baird, one of those pioneering jewellers.

1:25 How to make robots less creepy

Dr Jessica Turner and her team from the University of Waikato is uncovering how robots are edging into spooky territory, with a pair of robot student ambassadors helping them understand how robots freak people out as they enter the 'uncanny valley.'

The 'uncanny valley' describes a phenomenon where humans have a negative emotional response to a non-human figure, such as a robot, that has a human likeness.  

1:35 Football and a Chatterbox for mental health

It's an issue that continues to affect many New Zealanders and their families.

Emily Turnbull's husband, Darryl Paton died by suicide five years. Emily then established an initiative called Chatterbox - bench seats which encourage connection and conversation.

Now the country's largest football club is looking to install one of the seats and raise awareness of mental health.

To find out more, Jesse talks to Emily Turnbull from Chatterbox and Katie Rood from the Western Springs Football Club in Auckland. 

Where to get help:

Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.

Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357

Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.

Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202

Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)

Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 (8am-12am), or email talk@youthline.co.nz

What's Up: online chat (3pm-10pm) or 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787 helpline (12pm-10pm weekdays, 3pm-11pm weekends)

Kidsline (ages 5-18): 0800 543 754 (24/7)

Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254

Healthline: 0800 611 116

Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

1:45 Heading Off: Tokelau

Today on Heading Off we are focusing on Tokelau, three tropical coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean.  

Kim Meredith is a proud descendant from the atoll of Fakaofo and a passionate advocate for Pacific language revitalisation. This week carries special significance for her, being Tokelauan Language Week.

2.12 Music Critic: Borrowed CS and Tessa De Lyon

Our music reviewer Rachel Ashby keeps it in Pōneke with two Wellington based artists. She discusses and plays All My People (feat. Steve Spacek) by Borrowed CS and Honey by Tessa De Lyon. 

2:20 Easy Eats with Kelly Gibney: Crispy red curry rice and tofu salad

This uses leftover cooked and cooled rice to make this flavour-explosion of a salad. Get the recipe here.

2:30 Bookmarks with Black Thought

Tariq Trotter - better known as Black Thought - is the MC of the Grammy-Award winning hip-hop band The Roots, which he co-founded alongside their drummer Questlove. 

To quote rapper Talib Kweli, "the best rappers in the world look at Black Thought as the pinnacle", and the likes of Eminem and Kendrick Lamar have cited his influence. 

The Roots have released 11 solo albums to date and for the past 15 years they have also served as Jimmy Fallon's house band on The Tonight Show. 

On December 30th The Roots will return to New Zealand for the first time in 20 years to play the Summer Haze festival in Tauranga. 

3:10 Feature interview:  the world's scariest lakes

Lakes are spooky. Not the supernatural, poltergeist kind of spooky, but the kind nature provides with deep dark water and strange, sometimes unexplainable characteristics. Geo Rutherford is a writer, illustrator and hobby limnologist with more than 2 million TikTok and Instagram followers. October is Spooky Lake month, and Rutherford takes us on a tour of some of the creepiest lakes on earth where water is briny, it can mummify any living thing that touches it or the Crater Lake in Oregon where a phantom tree stump has been bobbing upright in the water for 400 years. 

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World

On Our Changing World, we head south to Tautuku in the Catlins. It's the site of Forest & Bird's largest conservation area - the Lenz reserve is 550 hectares and is part of the catchment for the Tautuku and Fleming rivers. And it's home to a host of threatened native birds and critters.

Claire Concannon catches up with project manager Francesca Cunninghame to learn about a small wetland bird and its ongoing battle against introduced predators.

3:45 The pre-Panel